I'll be happy to watch NBA players play H-O-R-S-E.
I don't know how I feel about them playing G-E-I-C-O.
Sports are often made for TV. And TV is made for advertisers.
So it shouldn't surprise — especially as all sports are scrambling to find new places to hang "for sale" signs given the current economy — that the NBA's first H-O-R-S-E contest won't use those letters.
As that contest joins dunking and three-point shooting contests as part of TNT's NBA All-Star Weekend coverage, the as-yet unnamed three contestants — who'll be overseen by an NBA ref — will play G-E-I-C-O. As in the insurance company that will be the event's unavoidable sponsor. (Suggestion: The winner then takes on the famous ad lizard to really drive home the brand awareness.)
I don't know why this irks me, but it does. Everything is exactly the same except the letters… but it just feels so dirty. Kinda like my weekends at the truck stop along I-495
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